05 Bases for water resources licence issuance under the law in Vietnam

05 Bases for water resources licence issuance under the law in Vietnam (Internet image)

Regarding this issue, LawNet would like to answer as follows:

1. Principles of water resources licence issuance in Vietnam

Principles of water resources licence issuance specified in Article 18 of Decree 02/2023/ND-CP, specifically as follows:

- Compliance with regulations on authority, subjects and procedures as prescribed by law.

- Protection of state interests, legal rights and benefits of relevant organizations and individuals; protect water resources and environment as prescribed by law.

- Prioritized licensing for exploration, exploitation and use of water resources for domestic use.

- No depletion or pollution of water sources when conducting exploration, exploitation and use of water resources.

- Compliance to the approved relevant water resources planning, provincial planning as well as specialized planning and regulations on restricted groundwater exploitation areas.

2. Bases for water resources licence issuance under the law in Vietnam

According to Clause 1, Article 19 of Decree 02/2023/ND-CP, the water resources licence issuance must be based on:

(1) Socio-economic development strategies and planning for of nations, sectors and areas;

(2) Relevant water resources planning, provincial planning, regulations on restricted groundwater exploitation areas and specialized planning approved by competent authorities; in case such planning and regulations are not issued, it must be based on water source capacity and make sure the water source is not depleted or polluted;

(3) The status of exploitation and use of water in area;

(4) Assessment reports of competent regulatory agencies on applications for issuance of licences for water resources exploration, exploitation and use;

(5) Demands for water exploitation and use specified in application forms.

In case of issuance of licences for groundwater exploration, exploitation and us, apart from bases prescribed in Clause 1 of this Article, it must also be based on the regulations in Clause 4 Clause 5 Article 52 of the Law on Water Resources 2012.

Article 52. Exploring, exploiting underground water

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o restrain exploitation of underground water in the following areas:

a) Areas having surface water sources have capacity to satisfy stably for demands on using water;

b) Areas having underground water level being consecutively declined and having hazard of being decreased excessively;    

c) Areas having hazard of land subsidence, saline infiltration, increasing pollution due to exploitation of underground water;

d) Areas having underground water sources being polluted or having signal of pollution but have not yet technological solution to process ensuring quality;

e) The urban areas, concentrated residential areas in rural, concentrated industrial areas or clusters, trade villages which had system of supply of water in concentration and service of water supply that ensure satisfying requirement of quality, quantity.

5. Forms of restraining exploitation of underground water include:

a) Restraining on subjects, purpose of exploitation;

b) Restraining on reserves, time of exploitation;

c) Restraining on quality of works, depth, aquifers of exploitation.

3. Requirements for water resources licence issuance in Vietnam

According to Clause 1, Article 20 of Decree 02/2023/ND-CP, organizations and individuals granted water resources licences must satisfy the following requirement:

- Have completed the notification and community survey of representatives of the residential community and relevant organizations and individuals as prescribed in Decree 02/2023/ND-CP.

- Have schemes and reports applicable to the approved relevant water resources planning, provincial planning, regulations on restricted groundwater exploitation areas and specialized planning or suitable for water source capacity in case such planning and regulations are not issued.

The schemes and reports must be made by qualified organizations and individuals as prescribed; information and data used for making schemes and reports must be sufficient, obvious, accurate and reliable.

Work design plans or works for water resources exploitation must be suitable for exploitation scales and subjects and satisfy requirements for protection of water resources and environment.

- Works for surface water exploitation and use with lakes and dams constructed on rivers or streams must meet the requirements prescribed in Point b Clause 2 Article 53 of the Law on Water Resources 2012, requirements prescribed in Points a and b of this Clause and the following requirements:

+ Have plans for arranging equipment and human resources to operate reservoirs, monitor and supervise the exploitation and use of water; plans for meteorological and hydrological monitoring, provision of forecasts about the amount of water inflow serving the reservoir operation according to regulations for cases where works are not constructed;

+ Have the reservoir operation process; have equipment, human resources or contracts to hire qualified organizations and individuals to perform reservoir operation, monitoring and supervision of the exploitation and use of water; meteorological and hydrological monitoring and provision of forecasts about the amount of water inflow serving the reservoir operation according to regulations for cases where works have been constructed.

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